But She's My Little Girl Chapter 1 (A Castlevania Nocturne fanfic)
Summary: 13-year-old Ileara Belmont has grown into a headstrong young warrior, mastering the elements of earth, fire, and ice. Her parents, Richter and Annette, have been training Ileara to fight since she was 8, and they always praised her for her natural talent. But when it came to actually being in the field, Richter couldn’t seem to let Ileara fight her own battles. As the months have gone by, Ileara’s been growing increasingly agitated by her father’s overprotectiveness.
When Richter and Ileara go on a hunt and Richter intervenes in one of Ileara’s battles, she blows up at him. Distraught at how strained and distant his relationship with his daughter has become, he has a discussion with Annette about best next steps, which leads to a deeper conversation about intergenerational trauma. Will Richter and Ileara be able to repair their relationship?
Author's Note: This idea has been in my head for months and I’ve finally started the story! Some background: Richter and Annette live with their two children in the Haitian mountains. Their daughter Ileara is 13 and their son Tayo is 8. This will likely be 3 chapters long. I hope you enjoy!
The Haitian sun was beating down on the mountains, illuminating the natural landscape. Deeper into the mountains stood a small home surrounded by lush farmland. Next to the farmland was a small training yard, where 2 people were currently practicing. Richter Belmont and his 8-year-old son, Tayo, were facing a few wooden targets. Tayo had a training whip in his hand and stared at the target before him, a determined look in his eyes.
“Concentrate,” Richter gently guided. “Treat the whip like an extension of your arm. That makes it easier to control.”
Tayo nodded, lifting the whip and preparing to strike. He flicked his wrist and missed the target. He groaned in frustration and threw the whip down.
“I’ll never get it!” Tayo lamented, plopping cross-legged onto the ground. “I’ll never be as good as you or mom or Ileara!”
Richter smiled sympathetically and sat in front of Tayo.
“Tayo, you’re just getting started,” Richter responded reassuringly. “Ileara has 5 years on you, and your mother and I have been doing this for even longer. I know it’s hard to be patient, but with time and practice, you’ll be a regular with the whip in no time.”
Tayo pouted and looked to the side. Richter was about to continue with his support until he heard familiar footsteps around the bend. He smiled as his wife and daughter entered the training yard.
“Let’s take a little break, Tayo,” Richter started. “Your mum and sister are back from patrol. Let’s hear their report. Not that I expect to hear much, it’s been pretty peaceful here these last few months.”
The four met in the middle. Richter kissed Annette on the lips and the top of his daughter’s head.
“There are my girls,” Richter said lovingly. “Anything to report?”
“Actually, we did run into something unusual-” Annette started.
“Skeletons!” Ileara interrupted, filled with enthusiasm from the recent hunt. “Skeletons just popped out of the ground and started attacking!”
“What??” Richter exclaimed, highly alarmed. “What are walking skeletons doing here? And in the daytime?? And you say they attacked you? Ileara, are you all right, were you-“
“Richter,” Annette interrupted, placing a steadying hand on her husband’s shoulder. “We were fine. The skeletons were weak and didn’t even have weapons. They were easy to defeat.”
“It was amazing, Dad!” Ileara continued, beaming at the recent memory. “I slashed 3 skeletons with a flaming sword! My fire was so strong that there were barely any ashes left!”
Richter looked a little worried but tried to compose himself. Clearing his throat, he gave his daughter a weak smile. “That’s great, Ileara. Proud of you, kiddo.” He didn’t sound very convincing, which Ileara noticed. She frowned and looked away.
Ileara’s father had been like this ever since Ileara turned 12 and started going on monster hunts. Richter and Annette had been training Ileara to fight since she was 8, and Richter always praised her for her natural talent with earth, fire, and ice. But when it came to Ileara actually being in the field, Richter became a different person. His anxiety was palpable, and he repeatedly placed himself between Ileara and whatever creature had appeared. He always fought her battles for her, even when she could easily take out the creatures herself. As the years passed, Ileara grew increasingly annoyed and avoided going out on hunts with her father whenever possible.
Ileara loved going on hunts with her mother though. Annette gave Ileara space to hone her skills and fight, only jumping in if Ileara really needed help. Her mom seemed to realize that Ileara was growing up and becoming more independent. Why didn’t her dad realize that?
“I think Ileara and I should go out again this evening,” Annette started, snapping Ileara out of her thoughts. “If there are creatures coming out in the daytime, then it’s possible that something more powerful could come out at night. We should take care of that now before anything makes its way to the surrounding villages.”
“Err, how about just you and I go?” Richter suggested. “We don’t know what we’ll run into and I don’t want Ileara to be put into harm’s way.”
“But what if something attacks the house while you and I are away?” Annette argued. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for both of our kids to be alone if that happens. It’s a much better idea if one of us stays at home while the other goes on the hunt.”
Richter couldn’t argue with that logic. He nodded his head and quickly formulated a plan.
“All right, fair enough. Annette, you stay home with Tayo while I take Ileara on the hunt.”
Ileara’s face dropped. “Why can’t I go with mom?”
“I want to see what’s going on for myself,” Richter answered. “If we have to split up one parent to each child, I want Tayo to stay home since he’s younger and still in training.”
“But-“ Ileara started, but discovered that she had no idea what she was going to say. Her father’s words made sense, but she still didn’t like it.
Richter noticed the disappointment on his daughter’s face and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I know you’ve been going on more hunts with your mother instead of your old man lately. But you don’t have to worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
Ileara couldn’t meet her father’s eyes and sighed. “I know.”
“All right, I’ve got to make sure I’m well-stocked on weapons,” Richter changed the subject as he looked at Annette. “Annette, let’s talk strategy and tell the kids about it afterwards. We’ll all meet back here at sunset.”
Ileara and Tayo watched their parents go back inside.
“I’m glad mom’s gonna be staying with me,” Tayo started sadly, updating his sister about his training session. “I still can’t hit any of the targets with the whip. I don’t feel any magic either. Sometimes I think I'll never be able to fight well.”
“Maybe that’s actually a good thing,” Ileara replied. “Dad wouldn’t let you fight even if you were acing your training sessions. I did well when I trained with him, but now he doesn’t let me fight at all. I think he wants to keep us little kids forever.”
Tayo looked confused. “Huh? Why would Dad want to do that?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter anyway,” Ileara shrugged. She didn’t want to keep thinking about this. She needed a distraction. Grinning at Tayo, she asked, “You want a few pointers? Maybe we can unlock your magic before mom and dad come back.”
Tayo looked up at his sister appreciatively. “I don’t think I’ll be able to use magic that fast, but I’d love to train with you!”
Ileara created a sword out of the earth and set it alight with blue fire. “All right, let’s go over the basics.”
Tayo was right; he wasn’t able to use magic by the time the sun set. But he did feel like he was getting closer to tapping into his magical potential, all thanks to Ileara’s suggestions about keeping yourself grounded. They’d have to wait to train more another time; there were monsters to hunt.
Richter and Ileara walked side-by-side through the dark mountains, both cradling blue flames in their palms to light their path. The walk was mostly silent, occasionally punctuated by small talk. Richter frowned; he’d noticed that Ileara had been pulling away from him over the last year or so. He didn’t like it. They used to be so close when Ileara was little, a true father and daughter team who shared everything with each other. But now it was like they were practically strangers.
That was another reason why Richter wanted to go on the hunt with Ileara; he was hoping it could be a bonding experience, that they could restore the relationship that had been weaking over the last year. But it didn’t seem like Ileara was up to having any kind of conversation.
Richter was brought back to the present by unusual sounds. Shifting earth and heavy footsteps could be heard all around them. Richter and Ileara froze, eyes darting in all directions in the darkness.
“Put your back against mine,” Richter instructed as he drew his whip. “That way we won’t be surprised by anything that comes our way.”
Ileara listened and stood back-to-back with her father. Richter imbued his whip with blue flames and swung it in a circle over his head. The flames created a circle around Richter and Ileara, and the brightness gave them their first look at what they were facing.
There were multiple zombies surrounding Richter and Ileara. Ileara shifted the earth to give herself dual blades, imbuing one with fire and another with ice.
“Whoa, zombies!” Ileara exclaimed, sounding absolutely elated. “I’ve only seen these in the family bestiary! I read that page so many times that I can take these things down with my eyes closed!”
Richter hesitated. His mind was going a mile a minute, calculating how he was going to defeat these monsters while safeguarding Ileara.
“Don’t do anything rash, Ileara,” he cautioned. “You’ve never fought these creatures before, reading about them is different than-“
But Ileara was already off. She slashed the zombie right in front of her with the ice sword, and already had her sights set on the next one. Richter sighed as he whipped another zombie.
Ileara and Richter fought the zombies in tandem with each other, both finding a good rhythm. As the battle progressed, the two of them drifted further apart. Ileara thought she was far enough away that she could fight away from her father’s watchful eye. But as she was about to take another zombie out, a throwing knife was thrown right into its neck. The same happened with the next two. Ileara groaned in frustration.
“Dad! I had those!” she called out.
“I know, I know, it’s just that there were too many around you at once!” Richter called back, whipping a few zombies that were in front of him. Soon Richter was preoccupied with his own pack of zombies, and Ileara took that chance to slip even further away.
The further she walked, the fewer zombies she found. She easily defeated the few stragglers who stood in her path. And then she suddenly stopped, feeling an unusual chill in the air. She heard a soft hissing sound accompanied by snapping branches. Making her flames burn even brighter, Ileara tried to locate the source on the sound.
That’s when she saw it: a huge serpentine creature that was as big as her. It shone in the firelight, covered in translucent purple scales. At the sight of Ileara, the creature narrowed its slimy yellow eyes and bared its two front fangs. A sharp stinger also protruded from its tail, which it slammed into the ground for effect.
But none of this phased Ileara. She didn’t recognize this creature, never seeing it in the Belmont Bestiary. But she was more than up for the challenge. She grinned in anticipation, barely able to contain her excitement.
“And who are you?” she asked with a teasing lilt. “You’re bigger than any snake I’ve ever seen. Are you the cause of all these creatures popping up today? Well we certainly can’t let that continue.”
As Ileara was taunting the snake, Richter burst into the clearing. Once he had lost sight of Ileara, he had run through the mountains frantically trying to find her. He took a few quick breaths and looked up, seeing his daughter face-to-face with a large serpentine monster.
Richter’s heart pounded and he felt the icy claw of fear squeeze his chest.
His mother’s voice reverberated in his mind.
He was 10-years-old again, watching helplessly as Olrox killed his mother, the blade at the end of his tail piercing her heart.
In the next second, Richter’s image of his mother was replaced by the image of his daughter.
“Ileara! Get out of the way!” Richter yelled, his voice high-pitched and panicked.
Before Ileara could react, Richter leaped in front of her and, with an icy whip, sliced the creature in two. To ensure that it was fully dead, Richter shot blue flames from his hand and watched as the snake burned to ash.
Richter hunched over, taking quick, shallow breaths while sweat ran down his face. Behind him stood Ileara, mouth hanging open in disbelief. But her expression quickly turned into anger as she glared at her father.
“Ileara,” Richter said in between breaths, turning around to face his daughter. “Are you-“
Before he could finish, Ileara sharply turned and stomped away from him.
“Ileara?” he asked, trying to catch up with her. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” Ileara said curtly, not turning around or slowing her pace.
“You don’t sound fine.” Richter observed, jogging lightly so he could catch up with Ileara. “Come on, baby girl, you know you can tell me anything that’s-“
“That’s exactly it!” Ileara yelled, stopping suddenly and turning to face her father. “You still treat me like a baby! I had that creature! I had it! I know how to fight, Dad! You trained me! Mom trained me! But you don’t trust me and I’m tired of you treating me like I’m helpless!!”
Richter was completely flabbergasted. This was definitely not the conversation he expected to have with his daughter tonight. He searched for the right words. “I… Ileara, I do trust you. You’re an incredibly skilled fighter and magic user.”
“Then why won’t you let me fight monsters on my own??”
“Ileara, that serpent you were fighting looked incredibly dangerous. I’ve never seen anything like that around here. I’m your father, it’s my job to protect you.”
“But you ALWAYS do this! Even with monsters we both know! You keep jumping in and fighting my battles for me! I’m sick of it!”
“I…Sweetheart, I’m…“ Richter started putting the pieces together and widened his eyes in realization. “Is that why you’ve wanted to go on fewer hunts with me? Is that… is that why you’ve been spending more time away from me?”
“Forget it,” Ileara spat as she turned back around and headed towards the house. “I’m done talking about this. I know you’re never going to change. You’ll never let me do anything for myself for the rest of my life!” And with that, she sprinted towards the house.
Richter stared after his daughter, pelted with an amalgamation of emotions over the course of a few minutes. Taking a deep breath and slumping his shoulders in defeat, he slowly trailed behind her.
End Notes: In the next chapter: Richter talks to Annette and Ileara talks to her Auntie Maria via transmission mirror.
